Surface ballast temper

ABSTRACT

A ballast-tamping unit includes two pairs of surface tampers fixedly mounted on two legs of two carrier elements. A common crank shaft supports the two carrier elements independently and vibrates the elements upon rotation thereof. The carrier elements move freely in a plane perpendicular to the crankshaft, and the crankshaft is supported for free movement in a plane perpendicular thereto. The unit is vertically adjustably mounted.

United States Patent 1 13,ss9,29s

lnventors Franz Plasser [56] References Cited z UNITED STATES PATENTSJose T euer, Vienna, both oLAuSma 5,137,639 2/1938 Madison 104/12 PP N0824'": ,4 7,682 2/1950 Mertz 104/12 3,111,909 11/1963 Plasser et a1,104/12 3 372 651 3/1968 Pl' 1'1 10412 Patented June assere a. 1.Priority May 14, 1968 Primary Examiner-Arthur L. La Point AustriaAssistant Examiner-Richard A. Bertsch A4653/68 Attorney-Kurt KelmanABSTRACT: A ballast-tamping unit includes two pairs of surfi gf fg gface tampers fixedly mounted on two legs of two carrier ele- 1 rawmgments. A common crank shaft supports the two carrier ele- U.S. Cl 104/12 ments independently and vibrates the elements upon rotation Int. Cl..E0lb 27/16, thereof. The carrier elements movevfreely in a planeperpen- E01 b 27/20 dicular to the crankshaft, and the crankshaft issupported for Field of Search 104/7, 8, free movement in a planeperpendicular thereto. The unit is 12, 10 12 vertically adjustablymounted.

/0- 1 /5 /9 l8 6 r I v I 2 5 1 8 17 17 SURFACE BALLAST TEMPER BACKGROUNDAND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to mobileapparatus for sur face tamping the ballast along each side of a trackrail between adjacent ties.

While various machines of this general type have become known, it is theprimary object of this invention to make the individual surface tampersreadily positionable in' respect of the ballast in accordance withvarying local requirements while making the drive and mounting for thetampers as simple as possible, a single-vibrating means being providedfor the entire unit of four surface tampers without impairing theability of the individual tampers to be properly positioned.

This and other objects and advantages are accomplished in accordancewith the invention with a ballast tamping unit which includes two pairsof surface tampers and two carrier elements each consisting of acrossmember and two legs extending from the crossmember, the pairs ofsurface tampers being fixedly mounted on the two legs of a respectivecarrier element. A common crank shaft extends in a plane vertical to thetrack, which may be parallel to the track rails or the ties, andsupports the two carrier elements independently and for free movementperpendicular to the plane. The crankshaft vibrates the carrier elementssuspended thereon upon rotation of the shaft. Support means supports theballast-tamping unit for free movement in this plane of a plane parallelthereto, and means is provided on the apparatus for mounting the supportmeans vertically adjustably on the apparatus.

Since pairs of surface tampers are fixed to carrier elements which arepivotally joumaled for free movement on the common vibrating shaft andthe carrier elements themselves are pivotally mounted for free movementon a vertically adjustable support, the free pivotal movements of thecarrier elements and the crankshaft being in planes perpendicular toeach other, all four surface tampers will be brought under even downwardpressure into tamping engagement with the ballast in the four cornersformed by the intersection of a tie and rail. Optimal tamping with thesimplest means is thus accomplished.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING The above and other objects advantages andfeatures of the present invention will be better understood whenconsidered in the light of the following detailed description of certainpreferred embodiments thereof, taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawing wherein FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of a mobilemachine for surface tamping the ballast along each side of a tract railbetween adjacent ties;

FIG. 2 is a front view of a ballast-tamping unit according to thisinvention, partially in a section transverse to the track;

FIG. 3 is a schematic side view of a conventional trackleveling andlining machine incorporating ballast-tamping units in accordance withthe invention; and

FIG. 4 is a schematic top view showing two ballast-tamping unitsassociated with the respective track rails.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION In FIG. l, the invention is illustrated inconjunction with a machine for surface tamping the ballast alongside thetrack rails between adjacent ties, the ties 1 resting on ballast 3 andcarrying track rails 2 on which the carriage frame 16 is supported formobility on the track by means of running gears 17, 17. The machinemoves in the direction of the arrow, to the left in the drawing, and thesurface tampers are shown mounted at the front end of the carriage frame16.

A mobile surface tamping apparatus of this type may be used in trackmaintenance work immediately subsequent to the leveling and/or liningand tamping of the track, or it may be used independently.

. mounted on the two legs of a respective carrier element 5 so that eachunit has four surface tampers 4 mounted in respect of a respective trackrail and the ties in the manner best seen in FIG. 4. For this purpose,the carrier elements extend on respective sides of a track rail 2 invertical planes parallel thereto while the surface tampers of each pairare mounted on respective sides of a tie 1 for surface engagement withthe ballast between adjacent ties. A common crankshaft 7 extends in aplane vertical to the track and parallel to the ties. The crank shaftsupports the two carrier elements independently and for free movementperpendicular to the plane in which the shaft extends, i.e. in verticalplanes parallel to the track. In the illustrated embodiment, thecrankshaft has two crank portions whereon the carrier elements 5, 5 arejoumaled laterally adjacent respective sides of the track rail (see FIG.2), and the two crank portions are staggered in, relation to each otherin the plane of the shaft.

A drive means constituted by motor 6, is provided for rotating the crankshaft and thereby to vibrate the carrier elements 5, which are freelysuspended on the crank portions of the shaft, thus to impart vibrationto the surface tampers 4. Since the crank portions are staggered inopposite directions, the vibrations imparted to the support means forthe tamping unit will be properly balanced.

In the illustrated embodiment, as best shown in FIG. 4, two like tampingunits are vertically adjustably mounted symmetrically on a commoncentral guide for surface tamping the ballast adjacent each of the trackrails 2..

As best seen in FIG. 2, a support means supports each ballast tampingunit for free movement in the plane of its crankshaft or a planeparallel thereto, i.e. transversely of the track. The support means foreach ballast tamping unit includes a main carrier member 10 and anintermediate carrier member 8. A pivot pin 9 extending in the directionof track elongation interconnects the main and intermediate carriermembers so that the intermediate member 8 is pivotal on the main member10 in a direction transversely to the track. In this manner, the surfacetampers 4 are freely movably in directions parallel and transverse tothe track elongation for proper contact with ballast portions to betamped thereby.

In the illustrated embodiment, the main carrier member is a two-armedbracket whose arms extend in opposite directions from the vertical guidepost 12 towards the track rails 2, 2, the centrally positioned verticalguide serving to mount the bracket 10 vertically adjustably on theapparatus.

As is best seen in FIG. ll, the vertical guide post 12 is mountedbetween two brackets extending from a sliding block 14 which runs ontransverse rails at the front end of the carriage frame 16 so as toenable the ballast-tamping units to be transversely moved in respect ofthe track. This transverse movement may be effected by a hydraulic motor15 connected to the sliding block. Another hydraulic motor 13 is mountedon one of the brackets supporting the vertical guide post and has itspiston rod connected to the support bracket 10 of the ballast-tampingunits to provide a drive for vertically moving the units and forexerting downward pressure thereon to force the units and for exertingdownward pressure thereon to force the vibrating surface tampers intoengagement with the surface of the ballast during tamping.

In the embodiment of FIG. 1 a conventional ballast broom 18 is mountedat the rear end of the carriage frame on pivotal carrier arms 19 so asto be movable: into and out of engagement with the railroad bed. Ballastbrooms useful for this purpose usually comprise lengths of hose or likeflexible elements extending radially from a rotatable shaft to clean thesurfaces of the ties and evenly to distribute the ballast over theentire bed.

As shown in H6. 2, surface-tamping units of this type are also useful incombination with otherwise conventional trackleveling and -liningmachines, such as illustrated in FIG. 3. As is known and, therefore,will only be described and illustrated sketchily, a machine of this typemay include a carriage frame 20 having a front portion which verticallyadjustably supports two tamper units 21 arranged for simultaneouslytamping the ballast underneath two adjacent spaces between ties l.Tampers of this type have been disclosed and claimed, for instance inour U.S. Pats. Nos. 3,372,651 and 3,357,366. Combining the surfacetampers of the present invention with this type of machine has theparticular advantage that surface tamping will be simultaneouslyeffected in the same number of spaces as tamping under the ties.

As is known, track-leveling and -grading machines include atrack-raising apparatus 22 at the front end of the machine whoseoperation is controlled by a reference system including the stop 23cooperating with a with reference line 24 extending to point 25supported in fixed relationship to the previously graded track portionon which it rests. The track-lining apparatus 26 is mounted intermediatethe running gears of elongated carriage frame 20, all of this structurebeing conventional.

The surface tamping units of the present invention are mounted at therear end of carriage frame 20 in a manner similar to the mounting shownat the front end of the carriage frame in FIG. 1. In this embodiment,however, the vertical guide post 12 is also movable on its supportbracket in the direction of track elongation by adjustment means 27.

FIG. 4 shows the surface tamping units in operative position in relationto the track, a preceding position being indicated in broken lines. iffurther adjustment of the surface tampers 4 is desired, the main carriermember may be joumaled on the vertical guide post for rotation about theaxis thereof.

While the crankshaft of the surface-tamping unit has been shown toextend transversely of the track and the tamper carrier elementsaccordingly in the direction of track elongation, this relationshipcould be reversed so that the tampers are mounted for free movement onthe crank shaft in a plane extending in the direction of the ties.However, it is essential that the crank shaft and the verticallyadjustable support means therefor are so arranged that the downwardpressure on all the tampers freely suspended from a common crankshaft isalways evenly distributed and that each tamper pair may be individuallyadjusted in relation to the ballast surface.

As long as these essential conditions are met, many variations andmodifications may occur to those skilled in the art without departingfrom the spirit and scope of this invention.

We claim:

1. A mobile apparatus for simultaneously tamping the ballast along eachside of a track rail and along each side of a tie between adjacent tiesof a track, comprising 1. a ballast-tamping unit associated with each ofthe rails,

and each unit including a. two pairs of vibratory surface tampers, eachtamper having a tamping element for surface contact engatement with theballast,

. ,two carrier elements each consisting of a crossmember and two legsextending from the cross member, a respective one of the pairs ofsurface tampers being fixedly mounted on a respective one of the twolegs of a respective on of the carrier elements, said carrier elementsextending in first parallel planes perpendicular to the track plane, and

c. a common support means extending in a second plane perpendicular tothe first planes and to the track plane, one of said first and secondplanes extending in the direction of the track rails and the other oneof said planes extending in the direction of the ties, the commonsupport means pivotally supporting the two and in such alignment thateach two of said surface tampers are positioned in planes parallel tothe second p ane whereby the four surface tampers of eachballast-tamping unit are positionable along each side of a track railand along each side of a tie at a point where the rail and the tieintersect carrier elements for free movement in the second plane; and

2. means mounting the support means vertically adjustably on theapparatus.

2. The mobile apparatus of claim 1, wherein the common support meanscomprises a common crankshaft extending in said second plane through thetwo carrier elements for vibrating the two carrier elements and thesurface tampers fixedly mounted thereon, the carrier elements beingpivotally supported on the crankshaft.

3. The mobile apparatus of claim 2, wherein the crankshaft has two crankportions whereon the two carrier elements are journaled, the two crankportions being staggered in ralation to each other.

4. The mobile apparatus of claim 2, wherein the support means comprisesa main carrier member and an intermediate carrier member, a pivotinterconnects the main and intermediate carrier members for pivotallysupporting the intermediate carrier member in the second plane, theintermediate carrier member supports the crank shaft, and a drive meansis mounted on the intermediate carrier for rotating the crankshaft.

S. The mobile apparatus of claim 4, wherein the support means mountingmeans includes a vertical guide mounted on the apparatus intermediatethe track rails, the main carrier member is a two-armed bracket, thearms of the bracket extending in opposite directions from the verticalguide towards the track rails, and a respective one of the intermediatecarrier members is pivotally mounted on a respective on of the bracketarms.

6. The mobile apparatus of claim 5 wherein the main carrier member isjoumaled on the vertical guide for rotation about the axis of the guide.

7. The mobile apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a carriage framemounted for mobility on the track, the support means mounting meansbeing transversely movably mounted on the carriage frame.

8. The mobile apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a hydraulic motordrive for vertically adjusting the support means and for exerting adownward pressure upon the ballasttamping units upon downward movementthereof.

9. The mobile apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a carriage framemounted for mobility on the track, the support means mounting meansbeing arranged at one end of the carriage frame.

10. The mobile apparatus of claim 9 wherein the support means mountingmeans is mounted on the carriage frame for movement in the direction oftrack elongation.

11. The mobile apparatus of claim 10 wherein the carriage frameconstitutes the frame of a track leveling and lining machine, said framecarries, forwardly in the working direction of the apparatus, two tamperunits arranged for simultaneously tamping the ballast underneath twoadjacent spaces between the ties, and said support means mounting meansfor the surface-tamping units are mounted rearwardly thereof.

1. A moBile apparatus for simultaneously tamping the ballast along eachside of a track rail and along each side of a tie between adjacent tiesof a track, comprising
 1. a ballast-tamping unit associated with each ofthe rails, and each unit including a. two pairs of vibratory surfacetampers, each tamper having a tamping element for surface contactengatement with the ballast, b. two carrier elements each consisting ofa crossmember and two legs extending from the cross member, a respectiveone of the pairs of surface tampers being fixedly mounted on arespective one of the two legs of a respective on of the carrierelements, said carrier elements extending in first parallel planesperpendicular to the track plane, and c. a common support meansextending in a second plane perpendicular to the first planes and to thetrack plane, one of said first and second planes extending in thedirection of the track rails and the other one of said planes extendingin the direction of the ties, the common support means pivotallysupporting the two and in such alignment that each two of said surfacetampers are positioned in planes parallel to the second plane wherebythe four surface tampers of each ballasttamping unit are positionablealong each side of a track rail and along each side of a tie at a pointwhere the rail and the tie intersect carrier elements for free movementin the second plane; and
 2. means mounting the support means verticallyadjustably on the apparatus.
 2. means mounting the support meansvertically adjustably on the apparatus.
 2. The mobile apparatus of claim1, wherein the common support means comprises a common crankshaftextending in said second plane through the two carrier elements forvibrating the two carrier elements and the surface tampers fixedlymounted thereon, the carrier elements being pivotally supported on thecrankshaft.
 3. The mobile apparatus of claim 2, wherein the crankshafthas two crank portions whereon the two carrier elements are journaled,the two crank portions being staggered in ralation to each other.
 4. Themobile apparatus of claim 2, wherein the support means comprises a maincarrier member and an intermediate carrier member, a pivot interconnectsthe main and intermediate carrier members for pivotally supporting theintermediate carrier member in the second plane, the intermediatecarrier member supports the crank shaft, and a drive means is mounted onthe intermediate carrier for rotating the crankshaft.
 5. The mobileapparatus of claim 4, wherein the support means mounting means includesa vertical guide mounted on the apparatus intermediate the track rails,the main carrier member is a two-armed bracket, the arms of the bracketextending in opposite directions from the vertical guide towards thetrack rails, and a respective one of the intermediate carrier members ispivotally mounted on a respective on of the bracket arms.
 6. The mobileapparatus of claim 5 wherein the main carrier member is journaled on thevertical guide for rotation about the axis of the guide.
 7. The mobileapparatus of claim 1 further comprising a carriage frame mounted formobility on the track, the support means mounting means beingtransversely movably mounted on the carriage frame.
 8. The mobileapparatus of claim 1 further comprising a hydraulic motor drive forvertically adjusting the support means and for exerting a downwardpressure upon the ballast-tamping units upon downward movement thereof.9. The mobile apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a carriage framemounted for mobility on the track, the support means mounting meansbeing arranged at one end of the carriage frame.
 10. The mobileapparatus of claim 9 wherein the support means mounting means is mountedon the carriage frame for movement in the direction of track elongation.11. The mobile apparatus of claim 10 wherein the carriage frameconstitutes the frame of a track leveling and lining machine, said framecarries, forwardly in the working direction of the apparatus, two tamperunits arranged for simultaneously tampinG the ballast underneath twoadjacent spaces between the ties, and said support means mounting meansfor the surface-tamping units are mounted rearwardly thereof.